Advice on Water Tanks

[constable]

20 to 25k Litres is alot of water especially if its only going to service your garden, and especially considering the good rain fall you normally get of the fraser coast, rather than 4 tanks you would probably be better getting one large one (per litre storage cost would be alot less), savings both ways as the installation of one large tank vrs 4 smaller would also be less.

IM not so sure about this, as we have nearly emptied a 46000 litre pool (during the course of summer) onto our recently estab landscaping! I was shocked at how quickly it went down and how much water you actually use.
Still havent gotten around too hooking up the storm water to it so it can refill this winter ...fingers crossed.

 

[Julia]

20 to 25k Litres is alot of water especially if its only going to service your garden, and especially considering the good rain fall you normally get of the fraser coast, rather than 4 tanks you would probably be better getting one large one (per litre storage cost would be alot less), savings both ways as the installation of one large tank vrs 4 smaller would also be less.

Re the "good rainfall you normally get on the Fraser Coast", over the last couple of years we have commonly gone more than two months without a drop of rain. The rainfall is nothing like it was ten years ago.

Julia

 

[Julia]

I haven't got one in yet, but have been heavily researching this.

It all depends on the room you have Julia, But i have seen polycarb big round circular tanks, 10000L ones for only 1600 bucks (from Statco i think)

If you can do that, thats the best value for money, the modular ones could cost you a lot more.

All in all, depending on what you want to use the water for, its highly advisable to have a 'first rain water diverter'. Essentially, its a small tank that collects the first lot of water from the roof (with all the contaminants). This could be 200l say, and only when this is full, will your core tank start filling up. This small tank has a slow drain which discharges into the storm water over a period of a many hours.

I would recommend this especially if you are going to use the water for the pool.

Then some other options are submersible pumps to get some good pressure for your sprinklers (or if you do eventually have to pipe it in your home).

Some other things to think about are roof catchment, guttering network, etc...

Thanks a lot for those suggestions, Rafa. The "first rain water diverter" sounds essential but no plumber quoting so far has even mentioned it.

Can you tell me where I can get more info on the submersible pumps? The sprinkler system has to cover a large area, so good pressure is essential.

 

[Julia]

Nioka,

Thank you for suggestion of the spear pump. I wish.
It's possible in some parts of Hervey Bay but not in Point Vernon where I live.

 

[Julia]

IM not so sure about this, as we have nearly emptied a 46000 litre pool (during the course of summer) onto our recently estab landscaping! I was shocked at how quickly it went down and how much water you actually use.
Still havent gotten around too hooking up the storm water to it so it can refill this winter ...fingers crossed.

Exactly right, constable.
Simply running a sprinkler system for one hour uses approximately 1000 litres.

 

[Smurf1976]

Smurf, I have one area in drip system but need sprinklers for the main part of the garden, so assume I'd need a pump.



In a time of zero rainfall, I'd use considerably more than 500 litres per week for the garden, probably more like 1500 per week when the weather is in the 30's and windy. And then about 1000 litres every three weeks to top up the pool, depending on humidity levels.




Good heavens! But you are in Tasmania, aren't you Smurf, with plenty of rain?

Pump. If you want to run sprinklers then you'll need a pump unless you've got a really steep block and the house right at the top. In practice, you'll need a pump for sprinklers.

As for the water volume, I was being somewhat conservative assuming your garden is already reasonably low water use given the climate, water restrictions and so on. But if you've got enough storage and sufficient annual inflow into it then you can use as much tank water as you like. Inflow and storage is the key - ideally you don't want the tank overflowing during wet periods then running dry when it stops raining (exactly the same with any water system from a tank to a major dam).

As for location, yes I'm in Tas but rain? Well, Hobart's had plenty in recent weeks although it seems to be disappearing again now. Last year we had only half the average so it's much the same as the mainland - not as wet as it used to be. Only the east coast of Tas got the rain last month and the central parts of the state have just about turned into a desert now. It's dry there at the moment even by mainland standards.

I didn't water the garden at all during November or December as it just wasn't convenient to do so but then in January I put somewhere in the order of 60,000 litres (best estimate since the water supply is not metered) on the garden over 2 separate days to get the moisture right back up. That's equivalent to about 65mm of rain and it all soaked in so it was very dry. I have only watered the side garden beds since then, probably 5000 litres in total, but the back and front is starting to look a bit dry again so I might have to water that next week.

I'm no expert on gardening, I know hardly anything about it, but I've found that watering only when it's really dry but then giving it a good soaking seems to make things grow better. I assume it's encouraging the roots to go deeper?

 

[insider]

Have you considered a BORE water pump (water from deep under ground)? with one of these you'd just need a small tank because the pump would keep it full all the time... I strongly recommend one for areas close to coasts because water always falls towards the sea so there's heaps underneath there... My parents and I installed one at their beach house... it's Pretty good...

That's enough from me... you can now wow your husband with your knowledge of solutions and technical information... good luck and tell us what you'll do

 

[Smurf1976]

Thanks a lot for those suggestions, Rafa. The "first rain water diverter" sounds essential but no plumber quoting so far has even mentioned it.

Can you tell me where I can get more info on the submersible pumps? The sprinkler system has to cover a large area, so good pressure is essential.

The water diverters are commonly sold (at least in Tas) by tank suppliers. It should certainly improve the quality of the water in the tank by keeping much of the pollution out of it.

As for pumps, again the major tank suppliers should be able to point you in the right direction. Or you could try an agricultural / irrigation supply store since they usually sell household pumps too. Quite a lot of homes that rely on tank water just have a pump plumbed in that works automatically when a tap is turned on and I'm told that they last quite some time (well over a decade).

With the drought and high demand for tanks I wouldn't be surprised if you had trouble getting either the tank itself or a decent installer. Lots of work and the good ones will be pretty busy. I know that some tank suppliers in the cities with tough water restrictions have a waiting list that is several months (according to the media).

 

[pacer]

The best tip....dont let the kids swim in it..Keep it locked....they'll either pee in it or possibly drown in it....IMO

 

[Smurf1976]

Have you considered a BORE water pump (water from deep under ground)? with one of these you'd just need a small tank because the pump would keep it full all the time...

With a large enough pump you could do away with the tank completely and just pump directly into the sprinkler system. You really only need storage if the supply is intermittent (rain) or doesn't come fast enough when you want to use it. If the bore pump is sufficiently large then that won't be an issue.

This might be a cheaper option and it's certainly more reliable (assuming the ground water doesn't dry up...) than tank water so worth looking at IMO.

 

[numbercruncher]

I think folks need to start using water more efficently.

Last garden i made i used mostly natives and hardy species and ran poly pipe around the whole property with 4l per hour drippers to all the plants all heavily mulched, 1 hour watering twice a week and nothing died on me, except what my mongrel dog dug up ):


Julia- Your rightyou will need the 20k tanks or better, I got all mixed up with Gallons, My last tank was 5k Gallons i thought was litres for some reason ... Ill blame my Dinosaur fatehr in law who insists on talking in Gallons, Feets, Pounds and all that weird stuff to me all the time

 

[Rafa]

Hi Julia, these PDF's attached are a good start on system design, and if you show some of the drawing to your suppliers they should be able to hook you up with something.

As for pumps, i think most tank manufacturers, eg Bushmans, stratco, Bluescope, etc have their own pump providers. Owning a pool, i think the ususal suspects like Onka, Davies, etc, might do something...

Check out this website
http://www.irrigationwarehouse.com.au/category263_1.htm

Bit busy today, but hopefully the above info should keep you going for a while.

 

[Julia]

Thanks to everyone for your really helpful input. Much appreciated.

I thought spear pump was another name for a bore but it sounds as though I was wrong here?

Can someone tell me the difference?

I did investigate getting a bore but was told it wasn't possible in my area.

Julia

 

[insider]

Thanks to everyone for your really helpful input. Much appreciated.

I thought spear pump was another name for a bore but it sounds as though I was wrong here?

Can someone tell me the difference?

I did investigate getting a bore but was told it wasn't possible in my area.

Julia

Not sure... I know that the industry has several trady names so it may be called that in Queensland... If it gets water from underground then I guess it's the same...

 

[nioka]

Not sure... I know that the industry has several trady names so it may be called that in Queensland... If it gets water from underground then I guess it's the same...

A bore is a cased hole which you insert a suction line inside to get to water. A spear is usually used in sand and is a pipe with a perforated spear head which can be driven into sand to the water table and doubles as a suction line. Because it relies on suction from the surface it is limited in depth to a little over 20ft. It is common in coastal areas and dry river beds. A bore can be much deeper.

 

[insider]

A bore is a cased hole which you insert a suction line inside to get to water. A spear is usually used in sand and is a pipe with a perforated spear head which can be driven into sand to the water table and doubles as a suction line. Because it relies on suction from the surface it is limited in depth to a little over 20ft. It is common in coastal areas and dry river beds. A bore can be much deeper.

Yep... I guess they are the same thing to a degree!!!!

 

[DocK]

Can anyone recommend a reliable wireless rain water tank gauge? I've seen one in a Jaycar catalogue
http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=XC0331
and this one from Bunnings: http://www.bunnings.com.au/products_product_water-tank-level-sensor-sontax-digital-wtl000_P4814144.aspx?filter=categoryname--Water+Tank+Accessories&page=3
I'd be interested to hear if anyone has one, and whether it's been reliable?

Edit - just found this one as well: http://rainharvesting.com.au/products/measuring-a-monitoring/wireless-tank-gauge